


Foolhardy

by penny



Series: FMA - Bad Guys Win [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Community: no_true_pair, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-08
Updated: 2008-06-08
Packaged: 2017-10-03 10:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penny/pseuds/penny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Central is in chaos, but Kimberly is certain Archer will restore order...once Archer is restored to full functionality. For that, Kimberly needs Winry Rockbell's skills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foolhardy

**Author's Note:**

> For 0TP prompt _Kimberly needs help only Winry can provide_
> 
> Spoilers for the anime ending. AU from the second Liore arc.

Central's in chaos after Mustang's coup. Kimberly smiles to himself, enjoying the way everyone's panicking. It's so much like Ishval, his palms itch, and it's tempting to...Kimberly curls his hands into fists and slides them in his pockets. Maybe later, after he's found the Rockbell girl and gotten her to Archer.

At least his time in Second was good for something. In civilian clothes, nobody realizes he's the Crimson Alchemist. Hell, nobody realizes he's a soldier, though he has to escape being pressed into a couple of bucket brigades by claiming to be looking for his missing daughter.

He has a picture of the Rockbell girl swiped from one of Archer's files. It's a few years old, taken from a case closed by Archer's predecessor, and Kimberly has to hold his thumb over the left edge of the photograph to hide the killer -- a skinny little freak in a dress -- being led away in shackles. The Rockbell girl looks nothing like him, and in normal circumstances, he'd get more questions, but too many people are looking for missing relatives, and it makes them more willing to help. And the Rockbell girl is a pretty little thing, memorable. Kimberly follows her trail to the Old District.

It's a shitty area, no place for civilized folks, but Kimberly's heard how the Rockbell girl handles her best customer. Fullmetal. Talented little boy, cocky, and entirely too easy to anger. There's no challenge in setting him off, but his brother...ah, his brother had been a wonderful challenge. His best work. Kimberly's fingernails dig into his palms. He's letting the chaos distract him. That won't do. He's still a soldier, still Archer's man, and Archer's men are disciplined.

Kimberly relaxes, feels his chest loosen. He's still a little weak from his injury, and his fatigue from the fast trip back to Central after quelling Mustang's little decoy rebellion up north isn't helping his concentration. Maybe he'd go after Hakuro. Now there's a waste of a uniform. No way he'll be able to hold military rule with all the noise Parliament's making.

He stops an old woman scooping away fresh rubble and shows her the photograph. "Excuse me, ma'am. I'm looking for my daughter."

The woman peers at the photograph, then squints up at him. "Takes after her mother, does she?"

Kimberly flashes her what's supposed to be a rueful smile. It feels a little too jagged, but he's not inclined to modify it. "And the milkman."

The woman snorts. "Warehouses down that way." She jerks her head to the left. "Says she's taking care of her brother."

"My, my. I'll have to have another talk with my wife." Kimberly pockets the photograph. "Thank you." He straightens up and starts towards the warehouses.

The old woman doesn't resume her shoveling. Kimberly slows his pace and glances over his shoulder. The woman's hurrying away, her gait odd and rolling, like she's not used to moving so fast. Interesting. He turns and follows her.

She leads him to an old church. The windows are busted out, roof's crumbing in, and the door's half-blocked by fallen stone. She glances around before going inside, and Kimberly ducks behind a corner to escape her notice. Then he follows her, sliding his hands out of his pockets and flexing his fingers.

He can hear her from outside. "...strange man asking questions. I sent him to the warehouses, but you have to move."

"But Al's still not awake!"

"Then we'll have to carry him. You should have let me take him with Rose and Cain."

Kimberly steps inside. The holes in the roof let in enough light, so he can see just fine. The old woman straightens up, gasping, and the Rockbell girl turns around, standing in front of a boy laid out on one of the benches.

He ignores the old woman. The Rockbell girl's hefting a wrench, and there's a determined look in her eye that says she will use it if he comes closer. It's tempting to engage her, to see what she can do, but he's too close to snapping. He'll do something irreversible. Even if he manages to keep from killing her, what good would she be with one arm?

So he bows. "Winry Rockbell? I'm in need of your services."

She doesn't lower the wrench. "Who are you?"

"I'm a State Alchemist." He fishes out his silver pocket watch. It's one of Tucker's augmented ones, and he can feel the stone humming.

"I asked who you are."

Kimberly smiles. "Crimson."

He can tell by her blank expression that his title means nothing, but the old woman draws back. "You'd be wise to run, child," and then she hurries off towards the back of the church.

"What do you do?" The Rockbell girl's still holding the wrench steady, but her voice is thin and high.

"I follow orders." He puts the pocket watch away, letting his hand linger a little too long on it in his pocket. He could take her from here using it. Take the boy, too. She'd called him Al. Alphonse Elric? Interesting. That would explain the rumors about her wanting to sneak someone out of the city.

"Edward's not here. I don't know where he is." Her breath hitches. "When I got here --"

Normally, he'd be more patient, watch her deconstruct herself, but he's spent too much time looking for her. So he interrupts. "I said I'm in need of your services. Fullmetal's whereabouts don't concern me."

That startles her. She blinks at him, her blue eyes watery. "Me? What does the military want with me?"

"You're an automail mechanic." He steps forward. "Come now. I'll carry your friend."

She looks uncertain, but she doesn't do anything when Kimberly scoops up the boy. He's surprisingly light, especially considering Kimberly's condition, but his pulse is strong and steady. Kimberly can feel the rush of blood beneath his palms. He makes a point of being gentle because it will make the Rockbell girl more willing to cooperate, and sure enough, she shoulders her toolbox and falls in step behind him, still clenching the wrench tight in her hand.

He takes her back to the safe house. Archer's still alive when he ushers the Rockbell girl in, but he's not doing well. Kimberly can tell that much from the doctor's pinched expression. It's the same doctor who treated him at Liore, and thanks to the stone, the man's brilliant with flesh.

Unfortunately, he's not brilliant with metal. The Rockbell girl gasps, takes an involuntary step towards the bed before stopping herself. She glances back at Kimberly.

"Go on," he says, shifting to set the boy, Al, down. "It's why I brought you here."

She circles around to investigate Archer's automail. She's fascinated, tracing Archer's mechanical eye with her fingers. She examines the rest of his face, his arm, and his leg, her expression a mixture of awe, want, and frustration. Mostly want by the time she steps back and looks up at Kimberly. "He's amazing!"

Kimberly smiles.

"You're going to let me fix him?"

"Yes."

She squeals. Then she catches sight of Al and goes still. "Why aren't you having a military mechanic work on him?"

"None of the military mechanics have friends who have risen from the dead they want to sneak out of the city." And the ones willing to work on Archer are all dead, but she doesn't need to know that.

She goes still. So the rumors are true. She is trying to sneak him out. "Al never died."

"The last time I saw him, he had such an interesting body." His voice is a little too jagged, a little to husky, but Kimberly doesn't care. Transmuting him had felt so damn good. "He made a wonderful bomb."

"Scar made him into the Philosopher's Stone!" she shouts, balling her hands into fists. She closes her eyes and shakes her head, forcing a couple of tears loose. "He sacrificed himself for Al."

Scar? The Ishvalian ruined his best transmutation? And then didn't have the decency to live so he could take him apart? Kimberly's palms throb, and he wants to get his hands on the boy. Or on the doctor. Or, hell, on the Rockbell girl. Archer. Anyone, really, because stopping one of his transmutations isn't right. Once he tips things in motion, the reaction should be enjoyed. Savored.

"Fix him," Kimberly says, nodding roughly at Archer. He has to transmute something, so that means he has to leave, because everything in the room's too valuable to destroy.

"I won't do anything without --"

Kimberly doesn't listen to the rest of her protest. He's already at the door, heading out into the hall. Outside. There's nothing of value outside.

* * *

 

He's calm when he returns an hour later. He showers, changes into his uniform, and then he's composed enough to negotiate with the Rockbell girl. It had been a mistake to go out after her in civilian clothes. They had made him forget what he is.

He's Archer's weapon. He won't forget himself this time.

The Rockbell girl is already at work, her hair drawn back under a pink headscarf. She's disconnected Archer's arm and leg and has the arm open and gutted on the table before her. The doctor and the boy aren't in the room. Kimberly will have to find them. The safe house isn't that big.

"This would be easier with blueprints," she says, speaking around a slim screwdriver clenched between her teeth.

"Third drawer down."

"Those are waterlogged. Illegible." She furrows her brow and reaches for a pair of long-nose pliers. "This would be easier with better light, too."

"There was a fire in the laboratory. We salvaged what we could." He pushes away from the wall. "I'll get you a lamp."

He finds the doctor and Al in the other room. "Well?" he asks, fetching the lamp from the bedside table.

"He's healthy enough." The doctor frowns. "Can't wake him up no matter what I do."

"He's not really a patient."

The doctor doesn't quite meet his eyes. "He's leverage for you."

"True enough. Carry on, then." He can let the doctor nurse those pesky ethics for a little while longer.

He returns to Archer's room and takes the lamp over to the table the Rockbell girl's using as a workbench. "I apologize for earlier."

"Doctor Jennings said alchemy's like a drug for you." She pauses her work long enough to glance up at him. "And that we're all lucky you have enough self-control to get your fix elsewhere."

"He's right." Kimberly doesn't bother hiding his smile.

"He also said he'll do what he can for Al if I'll do what I can for Colonel Archer." She takes a shaky breath. "So get out and let me work."

"I don't see colonel bars on your shoulder." Kimberly kneels, plugs in the lamp.

"I'll ask Doctor Jennings to make it an order."

"He's only a major. I'm a lieutenant-colonel." Kimberly backs up and leans against the far wall. "I'll let you work."

"You make me nervous."

"Pretend I'm out in the hall."

For the next two hours, there's only the sound of her working, her muttering under her breath, cursing through the particularly stubborn parts. Kimberly pays more attention to Archer. His breathing is steady, and his normal eye is fluttering. It's a good sign, but not worth fetching the doctor.

Something snaps under the Rockbell girl's fingers. "Oh, you worthless piece of...I can't believe you!" She whirls to face Kimberly. "I don't suppose you can get me into a real workshop? Get me decent materials? The casing's good quality, but whoever constructed this skimped on wiring. And the gears! The arm's three times heavier than it needs to be. The leg's probably the same way. I thought military mechanics were supposed to be _good_."

"You were impressed earlier."

"I made the mistake of judging by the cover." She chews on her lower lip for a moment, and then her expression turns sly. "Let me take him back to my shop."

"In Risembool?" Kimberly arches an eyebrow.

"Yes, in Risembool. Granny's a much better mechanic than I am, and we'll have the right tools and materials. We won't just be able to fix him. We'll be able to make him better."

The look on her face is inspiring. Kimberly respects that sort of passion. "And we'll just happen to take Alphonse Elric with us?"

"You want my help. That's my price." She frowns. "And you can't come."

"Ah, now that's not an option. I follow my colonel."

"Then no alchemy."

"Hmmm. I suppose Archer would issue that order." It's not the exact phrasing Archer would use. Kimberly can hear Archer's new voice echoing in his head. _No transmutations, Crimson, until I say so. Show me how obedient you can be._

He can be obedient for Archer. Patient. Eventually, Archer will set him loose, and it will be well worth any wait.

The Rockbell girl looks skeptical. Kimberly's smile is bland as he crosses the room. "No alchemy. Any other terms?"

"You all leave as soon as we're done."

Kimberly nods. "Of course."

"And you arrange things so nobody ever comes after Al. Or Ed, when he comes back."

"The Elric brothers aren't my concern. I doubt they'll be my colonel's." Not when there's a country to bring to heel.

"And you'll pay us for the work."

"Minus an appropriate cost for transport and new documentation to hide Alphonse Elric's troublesome status."

"Fine."

He offers his hand. She won't shake, but it's polite to offer. "Then it sounds like we have a deal, Miss Rockbell."

She surprises him by taking his hand. No hesitation, no fear, just a firm handshake to seal their deal. The fear comes after they're done, a quick flicker of her eyes down to the array on his palm, a tiny little squeak when she realizes the risk she's taken. Kimberly slides his hands in his pockets. She's a little foolhardy, like that Fullmetal kid, but she shows promise. Archer will need a competent mechanic. Maybe she'll prove interesting enough to recommend.


End file.
